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Yesterday was a great day for bread-making: a touch humid and warm enough to get the yeast happy but not too excited--perhaps not the best day for turning on the oven, but since the two go hand in hand, we had to sacrifice our comfort for an hour or so.
Unfortunately, when we got home, we had no plan, no yeast and we were quickly running out of time. As you know, bread-baking is often a lengthy process, taking hours, if not days, from start to finish. And well, we wanted bread in time to eat it with our supper.
Seattlest wishes that we were the type of person who made wild yeast starters with flour, water, grapes, sweat and tears. Sometimes we are, usually we’re not. Usually, when we decide to make something, we want it immediately. Luckily, we have one yeast bread in our repertoire that takes only two hours: about an hour of prep, and just under an hour in the oven: Irish Brown Bread.
We first enjoyed this unique bread about a year ago on an aforementioned trip to Ireland. We’d missed a flight (Aeroport Charles de Gaulle, we still hate you) and we arrived late after a long day. This bread, presented with Kerrygold butter, lox and a squeeze of lemon, saved our life.
Irish brown bread is made with 100% whole wheat flour, but unlike some whole-wheat breads that try to be light and airy yet fail miserably, Brown Bread has no such aspirations. It’s dense and chewy, with a very crusty outside and a slight sweetness lent by a spoonful of treacle (a darker, thicker cousin of molasses). And happily, like the last bread Seattlest wrote about, it requires no kneading. It’s satisfying and comforting and with just a little embellishment, it’s a meal.
Aherne’s (providers of our first loaf) brown bread recipe is after the break. Aside from changing some incomprehensible Irish cooking lingo, like “blood heat” and “dessert spoon,” the recipe is the same. Enjoy.
Photo by Rachael Coyle
Aherne’s Brown Bread
Makes one 8-9" loaf
1 lb. Whole Wheat Flour (about 3 1/4 cups)
Pinch of salt
1 package active dry yeast (2 1/4 t or 1/4 oz.)
1 tablespoon black treacle*
1 1/2 - 2 cups water, at body temperature, about 100 F
Mix the treacle, 3/4 cup of the water and yeast in a bowl, and let sit until foamy, about 15 minutes. With a wooden spoon, mix in the flour, salt and enough water so that the dough comes together easily, you should have a very moist dough, almost a batter. Mix until thoroughly combined. Transfer the dough to an oiled or buttered standard loaf tin and allow to rise until the dough creeps up to the edges of the pan and domes slightly in the middle. Bake immediately in a preheated 350 degree F oven for 45 minutes, then carefully turn out of tin and bake for 10 more minutes, or until loaf sounds hollow (test this by wrapping on the bottom of the loaf). Wrap the loaf in a tea towel and set on a rack to cool.
*Treacle can be found here. You can also substitute molasses for the treacle, just keep in mind that it's a bit less powerful, so you may want to up the amount a little.
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Mmmm KerrygoldbutteredIrishbrownbread! I love Kerrygold because it's so high in fat it always stays spreadable, even straight from the fridge.